Archive for June 21st, 2010

I think Jelly Belly‘s new Cocktail Classics have an awesome tagline: “It’s five o’clock somewhere.” Their press release had another great line, “All the flavors and none of the hangover.”

I’m a cocktail person (I’m too wimpy for beer’s bitterness), so I was excited to see what Jelly Belly’s jelly bean mixologists out together.

There are three new cocktail flavors – Mojito, Pomegranate Cosmo, and Peach Bellini – to add to their three current ones that have been around for two decades – Margarita, Pina Colada, and Strawberry Daiquiri.

The mini sample packs I got had all 6 cocktail flavors. For some reason, the boxed set was missing margarita.

We’ll start with the newbies. Mojito was light green with darker green speckles. Real mojitos are mint, rum, and lime.

For me, that mintiness was too much, too reminiscent of toothpaste, and I missed any notes of rum. I didn’t like the flavor mix, but I also don’t particularly care for mojitos.

Pomegranate Cosmo was a prettily translucent pink. Its initial bite of red fruitiness that gave way to a darker sweetness reminded me of regular pomegranate Jelly Bellies. I’m not sure I could differentiate the two in a blind taste test. Still, it was quite tasty!

Peach Bellini was another prettily translucent bean, more light orange than peach colored. Bellinis are peach puree with sparkling wine, and I think Jelly Belly nailed it here.

The bean version tasted fresh and fragant, with a lovely floral peachiness. There’s a champagne undertone that dances around the edge of bitterness in the finish.

And now, the old hats:

Margarita, a solid, translucent green, has always been one of my favorite Jelly Bellies. It tastes of tart citrus and lime, with a boozy undertone.

Pina Colada, yellow, starts with the tartness of pineapple, then gives way to a round coconut flavor and a sugary sweetness after the shell is gone. I like the pineapple component, but for some reason, I don’t like the mix of jelly bean texture with coconut flavor.

Strawberry Daiquiri is a solid, faintly mottled pink. It starts with an initial strong flash of genuine strawberry flavor with a hint of lime and a seedy raspberry undertone.

I enjoyed Pomegranate Cosmo, Peach Bellini, and Margarita enough to want to scoop them out of a Jelly Belly bulk bin in the future, so they get OMs. While I was less enamored of the other three, I did enjoy tasting them, so Os.

Kudos to Jelly Belly for a fun flavor mix. And kudos to Cybele for finding a fun way to photograph them (I wish I’d thought of that!)